Bibi Man was utterly bewildered, staring at Andre, unable to comprehend what was happening. Andre gave a wry smile, explaining to Bibi the excessive demands posed by Gu Xichen. The higher echelons of the Federation of Gods were in an uproar; several impulsive generals, particularly those from the werewolf lineage, leaped up, fists clenched, ready to charge at Gu Xichen.

"Get back!" Gu Xichen let out a muffled roar, sweeping his broad sleeve to the left. The werewolf generals tumbled backward, retreating several times faster than they had arrived. Kan Hua swiftly grabbed the necks of several werewolves and tossed them out of the open window. As one general was thrown clear, he ferociously jumped up and lunged back through the window. This time, a heavy punch from Ducat greeted him. With a crisp sound of shattering bone, the werewolf general flew out, his face mangled, flailing limbs, and never to rise again.

"Think about it. Frankly, I'm personally disinclined to help you with your joint defense," Gu Xichen adopted a roguish expression. "The Romans don't dare to send troops against us; why should I provoke them? Let them wipe you out. Once the leadership of both sides is gone, our Earth Federation will open its motherly, warm bosom to heartily welcome wayward federal citizens back into the embrace of their homeland. Honestly, I almost want to bribe a few Romans to suggest they launch an attack on you!"

This was **blatant coercion, and a rather crude, violent threat at that. Yet, it was highly effective, turning the faces of many within the Holy See and the Federation of Gods pale.

The sudden demise of spiritual leaders like Zite and Ganggelu struck the Holy See and the Alliance of Gods not just as the loss of powerful backers, but more profoundly, as a crushing spiritual blow. Though these figures stood presentably, appearing composed, their spirits were, in reality, teetering on the brink of collapse. Especially for the Holy See's leadership, their living deity had just vanished into dust, causing them to almost entirely lose the faith they once held.

Stripped of faith, these lofty figures were reduced to nothing more than frail, aging men.

Gu Wuchen casually lifted the teacups presented by two lovely young nuns, taking a delicate sip of the fragrant tea. "Not bad, not bad—excellent pre-Qing Longjing. The water quality on this planet is even better, superior to even the most famous springs in the Huaguo of Gu. After all, this planet hasn't been ravaged for so many years; the natural environment is excellent. Excellent! And this environment yields excellent water too!"

After a sip, Gu Xichen offered lavish praise for the fine tea the Holy See provided its guests. Kan Hua and Siren, being connoisseurs, both nodded repeatedly in appreciation. Only Ducat, expressionless, downed his tea in one gulp, swallowing the tea leaves along with the liquid. The two young nuns, holding the teapot ready to refill the cups, stared at Ducat dumbfounded, so flustered they were nearly in tears.

Kan Hua's eyes lit up. He solicitously called out to the two nuns, "Little girls, come over to big brother; ignore this oafish fellow who lacks appreciation. My, you are both quite lovely!" Kan Hua snatched their small, fair hands, inhaling deeply, and licked his lips with unconcealed greed. "Ah, if you ask me, the sweetest savor belongs to the believers of your Holy See. Tsk, tsk, the scent of blood is so fragrant; I can almost smell the scent of sunshine."

The two young nuns shrieked in absolute terror, frantically pulling their hands back and fleeing the reception room clumsily with the teapot.

Gu Wuchen coughed lightly. "Senior Brother... don't rush. Once the Romans break through the Papal State, given their nature, these young ladies will all be sold into slavery. You can just buy them then."

Kan Hua nodded soberly, greedily sniffing his hand held close to his nose.

The faces of Andre and the other Holy See elders shifted again; Gu Wuchen’s words struck directly at their deepest fears. The Papal State currently lacked any real power to defend itself; their self-developed Six-Winged Angel class battleships were a joke before the Romans. Without Zite as a strategic deterrent, how could the Papal State survive amidst so many surrounding wolves? Perhaps if Andre could fully absorb Zite's legacy, the Papal State wouldn't be so passive. But Zite had accumulated immense energy over countless years, and with Andre’s frail body, no one knew how many years it would take to fully integrate it. What the Papal State lacked now was time.

Gripping the cross hanging on his chest tightly, Andre mumbled hoarsely, "The price is too high; we cannot afford it."

Gu Wuchen stated coldly and mercilessly, "You have ten billion people. Surely the output of ten billion people can sustain the consumption of a Super Dreadnought?"

Andre looked weakly at Gu Wuchen and forced a bitter smile. "Ten billion people, and everything needs to be rebuilt from scratch. Housing, factories, mines—we even have to start cultivating land anew, and we must reconstruct the entire social order. Do you really think the current Papal State can supply ten capital ships?"

Gu Wuchen turned his gaze toward Bibi.

Bibi, his face ashen, had just learned the full extent of Gu Xichen's demands from a Holy See Bishop; a shade of blackness crept across his features. He spoke with a dry throat, "Don't look at us. The Holy See still has years of reserves, but our Alliance of Gods has always been impoverished. We also have ten billion subjects, but seventy percent of them were forcibly relocated through military action or lured by various preferential terms."

He shook his head resolutely and offered his neck. "If you insist, fine. Talk to our Chief Financial Officer; see how much money we actually have."

Blackjack stepped out from among the high-ranking officials of the Federation of Gods, forcefully tearing open the collar of his towering robes and thrusting his neck forward. Shaking his long neck, he sneered, "We have no money to give, only our lives. As long as I remain the Chief Financial Officer of the Federation of Gods, you won't squeeze a single copper coin out of me! We are poor; we have no money to maintain your Earth Federation's warships."

Gu Xichen eyed Blackjack strangely, then sneered, "Do you really think I dare not kill you?"

Blackjack defiantly tilted his head back and spat a thick glob of phlegm onto the carpet before Gu Wuchen. "A great figure like yourself killing me is as easy as flicking a finger. Blackjack’s noble head is here; please feel free to take it yourself. As I said before: you can have my life, but you won't get any money."

Bibi looked at Blackjack with approval. He suddenly felt that appointing this tight-fisted fellow as the Chief Financial Officer of the Federation of Gods was perhaps the most valuable thing Heckoms had done in his life. This weaselly-looking blonde man could actually hold a far more important post within the Federation of Gods! Although he lacked power and presence, and his background wasn't exactly stellar—reportedly stemming from organized crime and loan sharking—he possessed courage and unwavering loyalty to the Federation of Gods. That was enough.

A flicker of astonishment and discomfort crossed Gu Wuchen’s face. This peculiar expression did not escape the notice of Andre and Bibi, and they inwardly rejoiced. They suddenly grasped Gu Xichen's motive: he was here to posture and extort. Even if they failed to meet his demands, he wouldn't dare sell two hundred million humans to the Romans! This Chief Financial Officer of the Alliance of Gods had disrupted Gu Xichen's strategy. If they could deliver another heavy blow, the situation today could undergo a drastic reversal.

Just as the two were contemplating how to turn the tide and shatter Gu Xichen’s intentionally constructed show of force, the pale-faced Gu Yunu suddenly leaped out indignantly. The elders of the Gu family accompanying her had failed to restrain her, their faces white with fright.

Gu Yunu rushed before Gu Xichen, rummaging in her sleeve and drawing out a sharp dagger. Pointing it at Gu Xichen, she fiercely shouted, "Though you are an elder, do not push things too far. Within three steps, there must be a righteous man! Your actions today—aren't you just trying to extort benefits from us? Let me be clear: forget it!"

Amidst the gasps of horror from all the high officials of the Holy See and the Federation of Gods, Gu Yunu slashed the dagger across her own jugular vein. A fountain of blood roared out, splattering Gu Xichen’s head with hot blood. Gu Yunu howled, "Let my hot blood reveal your true face! Hey, forcing a junior to death—Gu Xichen, are you even human?"

Andre sprang up. What a devoted believer, what a fine young person! If every member of the Holy See acted like Gu Yunu, daring to spray their hot blood at Gu Xichen, what would Gu Xichen amount to?

Gu Xichen sat stunned on the large, gilded sofa, watching Gu Yunu, blood dripping from his face and clothes onto the white carpet below, rapidly staining a large area crimson.

Blackjack glanced in horror at the proud, unyielding Gu Yunu, then roared furiously, "Are the followers of our Dark Gods truly inferior to the believers of you birds?" Blackjack, possessing an innate streak of ferocity, pulled a sharp kukri from his boot sheath and brought it down hard, severing his own left palm.

Hot blood sprayed from Blackjack's wrist in a gush, splattering across Gu Xichen's face. Blackjack laughed madly, "Let the reporters outside come in! Let them see that the Federation's new Foreign Minister is a devil whose cap is stained with human blood! Ha! You can have my life, but not a single copper coin for money..."

Thwuck. The kukri sank deep into Blackjack's chest. He struggled to pull the blade out, and a torrent of hot blood erupted from his chest, spraying accurately onto Gu Xichen’s face.

An unsettling, fervent aura rapidly spread among the high officials of the Holy See and the Alliance of Gods. Those former high officials of the Holy See, who had been listless like withered wood, suddenly seemed injected with adrenaline; their eyeballs slowly turned red, and powerful auras churned within their bodies. The high officials of the Alliance of Gods let out low roars, their bodies swelling like balloons. Some could no longer contain the violence within them; black, silver, and white fur sprouted from their bodies, while others grew long horns from their heads, and gigantic bat wings sprang from their backs.

Gu Yunu, whose face had turned nearly transparently white, shrieked fiercely, "My Lords, the oppressors are at our very doorstep! Why should we not fight to the death? Are the followers of the Heavenly Lord afraid of death?"

"No!" Even the cardinals, some so old their teeth had fallen out, roared toward the heavens. The high officials of the Holy See and the Alliance of Gods scattered with a rustle, surrounding Gu Xichen and his party with hundreds of experts enveloped in rolling silver light and black smoke. Intense conflict between light and dark energy twisted into a single mass in the reception room. The hundred great experts released their auras without reservation. A beam of black and white light shot out from the Great Cathedral, causing the ground within a thousand-mile radius to tremble violently.

Where the black light passed, everything disintegrated into dust. Where the white light passed, all flora and fauna grew wildly. The forces of light and darkness, life and death—two utterly disparate powers—coalesced today, pressing down upon Gu Xichen and his group.

Gu Xichen stared in alarm at his opponents, who had suddenly gone into an ecstatic frenzy. He couldn't fathom what Zite and Ganggelu had done to them; the energy within these people was increasing exponentially, especially the Holy See bishops, whose holy power was escalating by geometric progression moment by moment.

Gu Xichen’s divine sense swept over their bodies. He was astonished to find that inside the Holy See bishops, a thumb-sized droplet of blood, as if cast from pure gold, was rapidly dissolving. Countless golden motes of light merged into the bodies of these bishops, and with every mote integrated, their power grew stronger. Meanwhile, within the high officials of the Alliance of Gods, blood of various colors was churning. This blood, generally enveloped in black smoke, enhanced their energy, but more so, it augmented their physical bodies—a significant contrast to the golden blood droplets in the Holy See figures, which primarily boosted energy and spiritual strength.

Under the assault of these two converging forces, the air around Gu Xichen’s body became as solid as steel ingot; when he swung his arms, the air rippled like water waves.

Andre looked at Gu Yunu, blood spraying from her carotid artery, and an immeasurable fury suddenly welled up within him. He roared to the sky, "Great Lord, save your most devout servants!"

All the Holy See high officials chanted in unison with Andre’s voice: "Great Lord, save your most devout servants!"

The high-pitched chanting converged into a single white column of light, which pierced through the Great Cathedral and shot toward the heavens. In an instant, it traversed the immense distance between the first star of the Thirteen Connected Stars and the giant sun in the Thirteen Connected Star System, slamming violently into the sun's surface. Like a spark dropping into a cauldron of oil, the sun's surface began to churn violently. A hundred solar flares, each stretching for a million kilometers, roared out. Astonishingly thin, these immensely long flares were only about a meter thick, appearing like a hundred long strands of hair fluttering in the void.

All photonic energy in the Thirteen Connected Star System simultaneously defied fundamental laws of physics; it changed its original trajectory and rushed toward the Great Cathedral on the First Star. Boundless, magnificent seven-colored auspicious light descended from the heavens, gradually coalescing into a hazy white glow that bathed the entire First Star. Powerful white light also shot out from within the planet. At this moment, the First Star resembled a perfectly transparent white crystal, radiating infinite light and heat under the sunlight.

The people of the Alliance of Gods let out piercing screams. The boundless white light rapidly eroded their flesh and energy; thick black smoke continuously jetted out from their bodies. Some of the weaker werewolf generals and officials even burst into flames, shrieking tragically as they scrambled around the reception room like rats doused in gasoline.

A bright white light shot from one of Andre’s eyes, while the other eye emitted a searing red light that was impossible to look upon directly.

"The source of our power is our incomparable piety!"